Support for disabling Windows® Defender

Needs and consequences of disabling Windows® Defender.

Windows® Defender is a real-time protection and monitoring system that recommends actions against spyware when it's detected and minimizes interruptions. Windows® Defender is a free program that helps you stay productive by protecting your Windows® enabled computer against pop-ups, slow performance, and security threats caused by adware, malware, spyware and other unwanted malicious software. This program works on Windows® XP & Windows Vista®.

You may encounter various issues with the Microsoft® Windows® Defender application due to which it may need to be disabled. This article explains you the various issues and the associated consequences:

Appearance of the error “Service Has Stopped”

Windows® Defender Is Taking Long Time To Perform A Full Scan

Unable To Start Windows® Defender

Appearance of the error “Service Has Stopped”

If you are using a third party spyware/malware program produced by a vendor other than Microsoft®, then it may disable the Windows® Defender service for its own operational benefit. However, once the software is removed, the Windows® Defender is started again but keeps experiencing “Service has stopped” errors.

In such a scenario you may need to disable the Windows® Defender service manually and restart it again. There are apparently no direct consequences of this act apart from compromising your system security for a short duration. Take care that the system is not connected online while the service is disabled and there is no third party protection as a backup.

Windows® Defender Is Taking Long Time To Perform A Full Scan

Sometimes it may be experienced that the Windows® Defender is taking too long to execute an automatically scheduled scan. This issue primarily occurs due to the existence of a large number of temporary Internet files, cookies, and other temporary files. To resolve this issue, it is recommended to remove all these files and disable and then re-enable the Windows® Defender service before you schedule a scan for the system. The only apparent consequences of the disablement would be that your system would be left exposed to online and network attacks for a fixed duration of time. This should not be a problem though if you are using additional spyware and malware hunter software. Also, updating the definition pack before you perform a full scan to remove the latest spyware would help.

Unable To Start Windows® Defender

Sometimes at system startup you may be alerted to a message that the Windows® Defender service could not be started. This is a very common problem across almost all computing platforms and is caused by a corruption of the registry entries. The only way to correct this is to disable the Windows® Defender manually from the service console and then uninstall the same. The Windows® Defender would then need to be downloaded and re-installed to be functional again on your computer.

A direct consequence of this is that your computer would have to be exposed to online threats while downloading the Windows® Defender and would have no backup protection at that time unless you have additional security solutions.

You will notice a dramatic improvement once the Windows® Defender service is disabled. Though the system performance is positively affected in the short run, it may be adversely impacted in absence of defender security.

iYogi's Digital Home Plan

We offer comprehensive support for your PC, connected devices, peripherals and over 500 software applications including:

Diagnostic & repair for your technologies.

Troubleshooting software errors.

Updating drivers and security to protect against online threats.

Connecting to the Internet, devices and peripherals.

Optimizing your PC's speed and performance.

Enjoy instant and unlimited access to great tech support, all year around. We promise the lowest wait-time and the highest resolution rate in the industry. The experienced and skilled technicians of iYogi are on call 24x7 to provide you support for resolving any tech issue that you are struggling with.

iYogi’s tech experts can provide support for all the major brands of laptops, like Dell, ASUS, Toshiba, Compaq, Lenovo, Dell, etc.